Advent day 24

 

  • Advent day 24

    Posted by Huw, 24 Dec 2012 16:14. Filed under Advent countdown.

    Advent day 24Here we are then, on the final day of the Advent calendar. It seems just yesterday that we were opening the first window, doesn't it!

    Today's City model is Santa in a snowmobile. The vehicle itself is pretty poor, to be honest, and would have been much better if only the skis were on the ground, and not the 2 x 6 green plate as well. Still, at least it rounds off the calendar nicely.

    Advent day 24Which is more than can be said for the Friends model today. What were the designers thinking? A corner table in a hairdressers. Not very apt for Christmas Eve, is it...

    Advent day 24Thankfully Darth Maul dressed as Santa saves the day. It was a stroke of genius putting Maul in a Santa outfit, he's the last person you'd expect to be in one, isn't he.

    Yoda last year, Maul this year, I wonder whose turn it will be next year to dress as Father Christmas? :-)

    City -- 7, could have been better but a nice end to the calendar.
    Friends -- 5, nice hairpiece, but totally inappropriate.
    Star Wars -- 10, great, amusing, minifig. Worth the price of the calendar alone!

    That is, of course, the end of our Advent calendar review. I hope you enjoyed it.

    All that remains then is to wish you all a Merry Christmas! The total number of sets we collectively own is currently 4,139,501. I wonder what it will be this time next week :-)

    It will be a quiet day here at Brickset tomorrow but do come back on Boxing Day for the first of our Legends of Chima reviews.


    32 comments, latest one posted 5 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by T.D.NL in Netherlands, 24 Dec 2012 16:35

Merry Christmas everyone !

Posted by mr_pookiebear in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 16:38

I was speaking to a member of staff in one of the brand shops and they claimed to have been at a staff event where they were told that next year would be a return to Yoda... I suppose a 'Santa Jabba' would be wishful thinking!

Posted by NeilCrosby in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 16:40

Literally the only thing I had to say that was good about the Friends build today was "oooh, sparkly brick".

Posted by Skydude in United States, 24 Dec 2012 16:44

Santa Maul is great...and I wouldn't mind a Santa Yoda again since I didn't get last year's calendar. Star Wars shines through in the clutch to take home the win!

I do wish they could have found a way to give him a double-bladed shovel or something.

Posted by Flowerpotgirl in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 16:44

Yes I agree, Neil, those were my exact words. Happy Christmas.

Posted by herbie75 in Germany, 24 Dec 2012 16:50

Merry Christmas to everyone and hope you all get the lego sets you wanted :)

Posted by MorkMan in United States, 24 Dec 2012 16:54

Great job recapping the Advent calendars for us all.
Merry Christmas Huw and all the other Bricksetters!

Posted by Firox 5000 in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 16:57

Overall, the calendars have been pretty good this year. Merry Christmas everyone.

Posted by chilis in Norway, 24 Dec 2012 17:08

Great job on the calendars! But, where is the coat stand in the CITYcalendar? http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=4428-1

Happy christmas!

Posted by Starwarsgeek500 in United States, 24 Dec 2012 17:08

Maybe a Santa Darth Sidious or Count Dooku?

Posted by Admiral Phil in United States, 24 Dec 2012 17:09

what is the add-up of points for the calendars?

Posted by Starwarsgeek500 in United States, 24 Dec 2012 17:10

I like how the calendars went. City had some very good moments overall, Friends started ut strong but got steadily worse, and Star Wars, despite a rather weak beginning, proved to be tops for minifigs.

Posted by TheDesuComplex in United States, 24 Dec 2012 17:19

Merry Christmas everyone.

I'm certainly wondering where that coat stand in the City calendar went.....

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 17:19

A great figure to bring the Star Wars calendar to a close, and actually quite a good set of calendars this year overall I would say. I hope next year we get another unlicensed calendar though like the Kingdoms one from a couple of years ago, those always seem to be the best I think.

Also, just a tip to everyone on Legends of Chima, don't write it off quite yet. I have picked up a couple already and have been pleasantly surprised...

Finally, I would like to wish a very happy Christmas to everybody here at Brickset, I hope all your presents rattle!

Posted by Keladeekadys in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 17:31

Final stats counts...
Star Wars 177/240, daily av 7.38,
City 163/240, daily av 6.79,
Friends 158/240, daily av 6.58

Posted by Demarco Murray in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 17:38

I was really looking forward to the Santa minifig but it was a disappointment. His Santa hat is just one of those kerchiefs from the old pirate themed sets.

Posted by Duq in Ireland, 24 Dec 2012 17:56

Knowing Huw I kinda expected some sort of recap of all the reviews but it looks like I'll have to provide my own.
Averaging the scores awarded by Huw and Bluemoose confirms the feeling that Friends was worst and Star Wars was best:
Star Wars 7.4
City 6.8
Friends 6.6

Looking at number of parts City leads the way but Friends is bottom again:
City 248
Star Wars 234
Friends 193

Minifig count shows an even bigger gap:
Star Wars 9 (really, the Gonk droid is not a minifig)
City 7
Friends 2

That's the bare facts. The overall feel (in our house anyway) was that the Friends calendar was very disappointing next to the City one. Only 2 doll figures and too many poor days with handbag-day the lowest point. The big question however has to be: what happened to the horse and carriage that are so prominently displayed on the box? It's even in the official images! Check out Alternate images for set 3316...

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 18:05

Thanks for that Duq!

Posted by Drmnez11 in United States, 24 Dec 2012 18:05

a red vader for next year would be Swwweeeeet!!!!

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 18:31

My non-AFOL wife was profoundly underwhelmed by the Friends advent calendar; she loved the minidolls, but too many days featured uninspiring and/or samey models. How many presents ?! No excuse for only 2 minidolls......

PS. I agree that a Santa Vader would be awesome !

Posted by Calv in United Kingdom, 24 Dec 2012 18:50

Can I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Lego filled new year.

The local Co-op today had loads of Friends Advent Calendars at £14.99 and lots of the new Friends and the first of Chima sets on the shelves already. The rest of the lego had been blitzed!! -which can only be a good sign!

Merry Christmas everybody.

Calv

Posted by tamamahm in United States, 24 Dec 2012 18:57

While I really thought today was a dud for the Friends Calendar, and a lack of ladyfigs, my daughter did love how the theme went together, and the fireplace/tree at the end were very nice. In comparison, my son was opening last years Star Wars set, and I kept thinking how much better that one was over this years. I think all of that impacted my view and caused me to uptick the Friends Calendar and downgrade the Star Wars 2012 Calendar.

I have to think something went wrong with the Friends calendar, perhaps with the horse and sleigh, which caused the need to back slide and give the calendar a limited release.

Posted by huntlll in United States, 24 Dec 2012 19:04

Merry christmas everybody! Lets all hope to hear the familiar sound of bricks hitting bricks.

Posted by jarolo145 in United States, 24 Dec 2012 19:14

I have the total number of points for each calendar according tot he 1-10 rating given each day.

3rd: FRIENDS (158 points)

2nd: CITY (163 points)

1st: STAR WARS (177 points)

Merry Christmas!

Posted by tyche in United States, 24 Dec 2012 19:15

I was really underwhelmed by the Friends calendar as well. I don't have any Friends kits and I have to admit that the minidolls are growing on me.....but there needed to be more of them and it would have been fun to see one of them dressed as Santa.

Posted by beefygrefe in United States, 24 Dec 2012 19:48

MERRY BRICKMAS EVERYONE!

Thanks for doing these fantastic advent calendar reviews. They've been really enjoyable.

Posted by galaxy_ultrilla in Canada, 24 Dec 2012 22:56

hey brickset
are you going to review the teenage mutant ninja turtles sets?

Posted by Darth_Maul_Epic in United States, 24 Dec 2012 23:20

Merry Christmas everyone! Love the Darth Maul Santa

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 25 Dec 2012 00:28

Great reviews Huw and Bluemoose! Thanks for the dedication to this!
On a side note I find it slightly humorous and ironic that every one hated the mini dolls initially, and now everyones complaining that they want more xD
Just an amusing observation :)
Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by bmwlego in United States, 25 Dec 2012 06:38

On a funny side note, while at Wal-Mart yesterday looking for $2 poly bags (all were still original price by me by the way) I came across a SW Advent Calendar marked down to $20. Not a bad buy for this year's edition but...
...it was 2011's SW Advent Calendar! This is the first time I'd seen this since March-ish. It was re-taped by the store so who knows what was really inside the box.

Posted by Starwarsgeek500 in United States, 25 Dec 2012 15:26

Would have been awesome if you bought it and found the parts+instructions to something like the Gunship or the MTT ;)

Posted by Margot in United States, 25 Dec 2012 19:36

$2 polybags? Tell me more!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! My son got to light up the Lego tree at Legoland in California this year so we had an excellent holiday season, it was a blast.

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